Love Versus Pain
by Loopstagirl
Summary: Set during the episode Denna. What if Kahlan did consider confessing Richard to free him from the Mord Sith? Could the Confessor go through with it? One shot.


**Disclaimer: I own nothing, just written for fun!**

**This just kind of popped into my head and i had to write it!**

Kahlan couldn't remember anything after feeling the intense pain erupting in the lower part of her stomach, no clue as to how she ended up slumped the wrong side of a very locked door. What she could recall, however, was Richard. The one man she was trying her utmost to protect, for he was the only hope the Midlands had at being free from Darkhen Rahl. If he survived that long. The look in his eyes as he had come towards her, agiel in hand, it was almost as if the Richard she had come to love was gone, only a hollow shell left of what had once been on the most passionate men she had encountered. And that was what was causing the equally intense pain in her heart. Kahlan knew they could never be together, that was why she had left him in the first place. But hearing from Zedd he was in the clutches of the Mord Sith had almost broken her heart. And to see him so weak, so close to being completely broken, it was destroying the Confessor. She lived to serve the people, to help Richard free them from the tyranny of the land, but Kahlan knew full well if she lost Richard to Denna, she wouldn't have the strength to go on alone, not when she would have failed everyone she ever cared about, first Dennee and now Richard.

Pulling herself into a more upright position, Kahlan sucked in sharply as she tried to stop the tears springing to her eyes. How could Richard have managed to stand it? The pain was so intense it was taking all of the Confessor's self control not to just pass out. If she gave into the tempting darkness, however welcoming the soothing fingers of blackness were beginning to become, she would have truly failed Richard, for she knew she had no other chance of speaking to the Seeker, trying to regain some of his own self control before Denna tore it from him. If she wasn't already too late.

Leaning back on the door with something that could resemble a grunt, Kahlan sighed deeply, wondering what Zedd would do if she didn't return. She knew he wouldn't attack the keep unless there was no other option, he was just a defenceless old man in the face of the Mord Sith. But Zedd's passion equalled that of his grandson's, and he could be just as unpredictable as the Seeker. It pained Kahlan to think of Zedd going on without them, but it did draw her mind from the more pressing matter dwelling in her thoughts. It was all very well making a plan to get herself into the palace and trying to talk to Richard, but that all mainly relied on one thing. Richard being in the same place as her.

From what little she could hear through the door, Kahlan knew she was alone. That in itself didn't worry the Confessor, it was something she had become accustomed too. Whether they liked it or not, Confessors always ended up alone. They lived to serve the people and those they commanded lived only to serve them, but none were considered friends apart from other Confessors. Until she had met Richard, Kahlan wasn't sure if she had ever had a real friend, but the Seeker, perhaps beginning in his naivety of what she could do, had managed to undermine her carefully placed defences and establish a strong hold on her heart. A hold that could cost him more than his life. However, whilst Kahlan was used to being in solitude, at this precise moment, she would give anything to have the Seeker with her, have his presence near so she could try and free him from Denna's influence.

Suddenly, a pleading scream rang through Kahlan's ears, making her want to cry in pity for the anguish the owner of the voice must be feeling. With a pounding heart, Kahlan sat up a little straighter, listening as the scream echoed through her head once more. Letting out her own cry of distress, Kahlan pressed the back of her hand to her mouth, trying to stifle the sob. She knew that voice, had heard it scream a battle cry more than once. But it was no defiant battle cry crossing Richard's lips now, but one of defeat, one of someone who was close to being lost forever. The training session for the day had clearly not been over when Kahlan had arrived. Either that, or Denna was playing some twisted game, testing Richard's obvious new found loyalty, or forcing Kahlan to listen to his torment, knowing nothing, not even the touch of agiel could hurt the Confessor more.

"Please, Mistress!" Resting her head back on the wood of the door, Kahlan made no attempt this time to stop the tears trickling down her face. She had always maintained the mission was more important than anything, especially the two of them, but right now, she would give anything just to free Richard from this torment. No one deserved what a Mord Sith put them through, but least of all the pure hearted Seeker. _If they got out of this, _Kahlan couldn't help but think bitterly, any sense of justice a Confessor should possess torn away at hearing the anguish and pain in Richard's voice_, Rahl would pay for this, pay for every drop of blood spilt, pay for every scream he had made cross Richard's lips._

The silence that fell after the screams was almost as terrifying. For the first time since she had crossed into the boundary, Kahlan was seriously beginning to question whether she had done the right thing plucking this wood guide from his home and throwing him into a world he didn't understand. If she hadn't, Richard would not be feeling the pain now. More than that, Kahlan wished he had known more about magic. That way, he would never had had the courage to fall in love with her, meaning she would have never left his side. He would have known instantly not to use the sword against Denna and so would have given her more than a fight, his skill natural to him and more than a match for even the Mord Sith.

Leaning against the door, the Confessor sighed deeply. Never mind Richard being broken, she didn't feel like she could hold onto hope for much longer if this continued. It was killing her hearing Richard in pain and not being able to do anything to stop it. But the Confessor knew the pain, whilst it would recede, wouldn't completely disappear even if they did somehow manage to get out of here. She wasn't sure she had the strength to carry on resisting her feelings for the Seeker, even if she knew the consequences of what acting on them would do to him, to the Midlands.

As if a candle had been lit in her mind, a sudden thought struck the Confessor of how it may just, by the slightest way, be possible to get them out of this situation. She could use her power against Richard. He claimed he already had feelings for her, perhaps it would just emphasise on what was already there. She knew he loved her; she could act with a clear conscience because he had already made his choice. But it would free him from Denna. He would be freed from being a slave to pain and become a slave to love. Surely that was better though? She could order him to complete his quest, knowing he would be even more of an unstoppable force once under the influence of the Confessor's touch. For if Denna managed to break the Seeker, any hope still forcing its way through the land would be gone when the Seeker did Rahl's bidding. They had just accepted the prophecy from all those years ago had been defeated; they couldn't lose him again, not like that. _She _couldn't lose him to Denna.

Sitting upright with a sense of purpose running through her, Kahlan couldn't believe what she was even considering. Only a few days ago, she had walked away from Richard's side because she feared what her power would do to him, and yet now, she was strongly contemplating using her touch to save him. Could it work? Could the power of love overcome the power of hate, fear and pain? She had seen the look in his eyes when he had come towards her, was her touch enough to free him from Denna's influence? It had to be worth a try.

Hearing the door open from outside, clearly indicating that she was in a room within another chamber, Kahlan moved away from the door slightly, just in case someone was about to come through it. That was what she wanted, it would give her the chance to get them both out of here without endangering anyone. Hearing the ragged breathing of a man accompanied by the rattle of the chain, Kahlan felt the roof of her mouth go dry. It meant Richard had returned to her, but did she have the strength to take him away again?

With clumsy fingers, Kahlan could hear him fumbling with a catch until quite suddenly, the small hatch way behind her back sprung open, and the tear streaked face of the Seeker looked back at her.

"Kahlan." He said simply, portraying how much he still loved her in that simple word. Despite all that he had gone through, _was _going through, Richard Cypher still had the strength to love the one woman in the whole of the Midlands he could not have. Hearing his determination to let his heart have a freer rein than she had seen of any man, Kahlan felt her resolve fail. His individuality and determination to do what was right, to love her regardless of what she could potentially do to him, was one of the many things she admired about Richard, one of the many things she had come to love about him. She couldn't take that away from him. There had to be another way to free him from Denna, for the Confessor knew, just in that split second of looking into his determined eyes, she couldn't destroy him. There had to be another way.

And so when Richard begged her to make him her slave not moments later, the Confessor knew what she had to say. And whilst it broke her heart to hear him say she had betrayed him after all, Kahlan knew that was not the case. She had betrayed him by thinking about confessing him without his say so, had been willing to sacrifice everything just to save the man she loved, despite knowing he would want her to carry on without him and defeat Rahl. She had betrayed what he believed in, what he had suffered for, but in making her decision not to take away his freedom, Kahlan Amnel put the prophecy onto a new track, one that would have far greater repercussions than she perhaps could comprehend at the moment of her decision.

Even then, during the final fight with the Mord Sith who had come so close to tearing the world apart and allowing Darkhen Rahl to win, it was Richard's love for Kahlan that defeated Denna. Love _could_ conquer the pain, but not in the way Kahlan had foreseen.

**This was my first Legend of the Seeker fic, so any feedback would be greatly appreciate about what you think! :)**


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